Birthday Bash
by Ivorycat
Summary: Fourth in the Play Ball series: Rosa's birthday is coming up and excitement, along with some drama is in the air. Luke and Lorelai worry about their relationship while Jess and Rory fret about the future.
1. Chapter 1 First Day of Summer

**Birthday Bash**

NOTE: I don't own these Gilmore Girls characters, as they're the property of the WB. Rosa is very much mine, though.

A/N: I know what you're thinking. It took me forever to write this one, right? Well, now it's time for a new one. For those of you who've never read the other stories you might want to go find them and refresh yourself before touching this one. Anyway, enjoy!

          Excited screams could be heard as the doors to the small Stars Hollow elementary school burst open, releasing several children. Rosa Mariano slipped through the crowd and went to stand on top of a bench, glancing around, her brown eyes searching for something. A brown haired figure came through the crowd of children then, Jess. Rosa smiled and jumped down from the bench, running up to her father.

          "Dad," Rosa nearly exclaimed.

          "Hey." Jess picked her up, giving her a little hug. "Day you been waiting for, huh?"

          Rosa nodded in agreement. "Finally. No more school."

          Jess smiled lightly at the girl, putting her down and taking her hand as they began to walk together. Rosa sure could be a mystery at times. One minute she loved every minute of school and the next she was dying to get out, just like all of the other kids. Jess enjoyed the walks he and his daughter had been taking since the summer weather kicked in. They didn't even need the car most of the time.

          As they continued to walk, Jess looked around at the places they were passing, places they passed all the time. Parents picking their kids up, Kirk nearby working on his latest job as a picket sign sketcher, the dance studio where Miss Patty could be heard reliving a tale from her old days as a dancer. The small town was actually beginning to grow on Jess, at least little. Finally, he and Rosa made it to the diner.

          Luke looked up at them and rolled his eyes. "Oh, great. It's summer vacation. Now every ankle biter in town will be in here," he grumbled.

          "Told you he was going to say that," Jess said to Rosa. "You owe me five bucks."

          "No fair," Rosa pouted. "I only have two."

          "Consider the rest a hug," Jess said, picking her up again with a tight squeeze then sitting her down on top of a seat in front of the counter.

          "Hey, Uncle Luke," Rosa greeted.

          "Hey, kid. What do you want?" Luke asked.

          "Carrot burger," Rosa replied, as the carrot burgers had become a favorite of hers.

          "What about you?" Luke asked Jess.

          "How about a nonfat dairy product?" Jess suggested. Luke simply gave him a look. "OK, you twisted my arm. I'll take a chocolate shake."

          "Oh, Davey's outside," Rosa spotted. "I'll be right back."

          "Don't go far," Jess cautioned as his brown haired daughter headed outside.

          "I won't!" Rosa called back, leaving out.

          Jess felt slightly relieved as he went over to sit on the same seat Rosa had occupied. "Everything ready for next week?" he asked Luke.

          "Yeah. Lorelai and Rory promised to handle the decorations the night before, so everything is pretty much set," Luke said.

          "I swear the whole party planning deal is so Martha Stewart. I can't wait for it to be over."

          "Yeah, but you'll get to see the look on your daughter's face all that… crap."

          At that moment, Rosa walked back in, climbing into a seat next to her father. "What's going on?" she asked.

          "Nothing," Jess and Luke replied simultaneously.

          Rosa stared at them for a moment then shrugged it off, thinking of her carrot burger.

A/N: I know this first chapter was short, but there's more fun to come. Please review!


	2. Chapter 2 The Decor

**Birthday Bash**

NOTE: I don't own these Gilmore Girls characters, as they're the property of the WB. Rosa is very much mine, though.

A/N: I know what you're thinking. It took me forever to write this one, right? Well, now it's time for a new one. For those of you who've never read the other stories you might want to go find them and refresh yourself before touching this one. Anyway, enjoy!

          Lorelai and Rory sat in the living room of their house on opposite ends of the coffee table, a pile of decorations and things on the table between them. Rory had brought the stuff over that afternoon for her and Lorelai to go through, but at the moment they hadn't decided on much of anything.

          "Why can't we just go with the classic paper chain?" Lorelai asked.

          "Mom, the classic paper chain is too fifth birthday," Rory explained. "This is Rosa's seventh birthday and it should be all pretty and festive, meaning streamers and balloons."

          "Oh, and the little party hats," Lorelai chimed in. "I _have _to see Luke in a little party hat."

          Rory smiled a little then thought about something. "How are things going with you guys?"

          "Who?"

          "Um, you and Luke? That guy you just mentioned?"

          "Oh, right. Me and that guy I just mentioned… we're fine," Lorelai replied.

          "Really?"

          "Yeah, I mean he's not all surprising me early in the morning with breakfast and flowers and some sort of really shiny present, but we're good," Lorelai said.

          Rory smiled mischievously before asking, "Are you kinky?"

          "Rory," Lorelai cried, really surprised by the girl's question. Lorelai smiled the same mischievous smile, too, though. "We're semi-kinky."

          "Semi is good," Rory nodded. "Oh, and I talked to Grandma yesterday. It was so weird. When I told her I would be with Jess she found it weird that you would be with Luke."

          "Uh huh," Lorelai said, not looking up from the table of decorations.

          "Yeah, as if she had no idea you and Luke were together."

          "Weird, huh?"

          "Really weird," Rory agreed. "Mom, why didn't you tell her?"

          "I don't know," Lorelai moaned.

          "I mean it's not like she wouldn't be supportive. She was the one always saying how you and Luke would end up together."

          "I know," said Lorelai. "And that's just the problem. She'll be in my face forever with the "I told you so's," and the "I knew it's," and just the general annoyingness that is Emily."

          "Eventually she's going to find out," Rory reminded her.

          "Well, eventually is a long time from now I'm hoping," said Lorelai with a small smile.

          Over at the diner, Kirk and Rosa sat across from each other, drawing on large pieces of paper. Luke glanced up at them a couple of times, constantly shaking his head. Jess came in then, noticing the goings on. He went over to Rosa and looked over her shoulder to see what she was doing.

          "Free the whales?" Jess read then looked at Kirk. "What's that about?"

          "Rosa's helping me finish these signs," Kirk replied. "With her help, the whales will be free by sundown."

          "And at the end of the day, I get paid five bucks," Rosa added.

          "Uh, Rosa, about the payment plans…" Kirk trailed off.

          Rosa glanced up, glaring daggers at him. "I want my money, Kirk."

          "She's on break," Jess said, picking Rosa up and carrying her towards the door.

          "Don't make me get my lawyer!" Rosa called after Kirk.

          "You don't scare me," Kirk yelled then waited for her to leave completely before adding, "Much."

          Jess carried Rosa to the park where they and Rory seemed to reside most of the time. Rosa immediately ran to the swings, her favorite things in the entire playground. Jess came up behind her, giving her a gentle, but tough enough push to get her flying high. The brown haired young man couldn't help, but be proud at how Rosa seemed to nearly swing over the top of the swing set when she pumped her legs the hardest. Getting impressed over the simple things must be a parent thing, he thought.

          "You know I was looking at that Hello Kitty calendar thing Rory gave us today and something hit me," Jess said.

          "Was it a brick?" Rosa asked.

          "Very funny," Jess said sarcastically, but amused. "Some little kid that looks like me has a birthday coming up."

          "Hmmm… Davey?" Rosa giggled a little.

          Jess lifted her up and gave her stomach a tickle. "No, you, half-pint," he said.

          Rosa laughed out loud. "I knew that."

          Jess went over to a park, sitting Rosa on top of his lap. "Me and Rory thought you'd want to go to the movies."

          "And I get to pick the movie?" Rosa asked. Jess nodded. "Disney?" Jess looked a little uneasy about that. "Daddy?" the little girl pressed.

          "And it can be Disney," Jess muttered.

          "Cool," Rosa smiled. She jumped down from his lap and ran up to the largest slide, going from on top of it to down with a large laugh.

          Jess watched her, like he usually did. He could still see her old teacher, Mr. Adams, in his head. That man was the rat bastard that tried to abduct Rosa, but had been found by Jess and Rory. Jess couldn't help, but think about what could have happened if he hadn't gotten there in time. The most satisfying thing was getting to punch Adams in the face, which was much less than he deserved.

          Jess watched as Rosa went up the slide again then came down for the third time. A smile spread across his face and he thought he couldn't be more happier.

A/N: I'm hyper and writing. Is that a good mix or no? Oh, well. Please review!


	3. Chapter 3 Old Flame

**Birthday Bash**

NOTE: I don't own these Gilmore Girls characters, as they're the property of the WB. Rosa is very much mine, though.

A/N: I know what you're thinking. It took me forever to write this one, right? Well, now it's time for a new one. For those of you who've never read the other stories you might want to go find them and refresh yourself before touching this one. Anyway, enjoy!

          CHAPTER 3

          Rosa bounced energetically into a Kids Gap store followed by Luke and Lorelai. The two adults watched the child as she moved through the many racks of clothes awfully filled with liveliness.

          "I'm thinking we shouldn't have let her have the smoothie _and_ the ice cream," Luke said.

          "Hey, if you can resist that face, I'll take my hat off to you," said Lorelai.

          "So why are we here, exactly?" Luke asked her, looking at a display of kiddy jewelry.

          "Luke, honey, we talked about this in the car," Lorelai reminded him. "I want to horribly humiliate you by bringing you into a little kid's store."

          "Took me all the way to Hartford just to humiliate me," Luke sighed. "I can feel the growth in this relationship."

          "Yeah," Lorelai said, absentmindedly looking through a rack of blouses. "I actually wanted to talk to you about that."

          "Hey," Rosa suddenly chimed in, appearing from behind a stand of festive t-shirts. "They have Hello Kitty everything in here."

          "Why don't you pick out a couple things?" Lorelai suggested, clearly trying to distract the child. 

Rosa nodded and went back to what she was doing.

"You were saying?" Luke said, redirecting the conversation to Lorelai's previous statement.

"Oh, right," Lorelai remembered. "Well, it's just that you and I have been in this thing for a pretty long while now. Thick and thin and all that fun couple-y stuff."

"This leading to a general point?" Luke nudged.

"Uncle Luke," Rosa said, walking up. "Look. They got that baseball cap you wear all the time." She held up a blue cap, which was very identical to the one Luke wore on his head at the moment.

"Really exciting stuff, kid," Luke said with fake interest.

"Rosa, you remember the deal," Lorelai said, hugging Luke's arm. "It's my turn to annoy Luke. You can have him back in an hour."

"OK," Rosa said then walked off again. "Can we go to the food court?"

"You just had two desserts," Luke said.

"That was dessert," Rosa said. "Not pizza."

"She has a point there," Lorelai had to agree then smiled at Rosa. "Sure. Let's go."

Rosa smiled and headed out of the store.

"I guess we'll talk later," Luke said to Lorelai.

"Later is good," Lorelai said, hiding her disappointment.

Rory stood among a crowd at Luke's diner, all people arguing at once. Rory shook her head in exasperation for what had to be the fourth time that past hour. How could something as simple as planning a birthday party for a little girl be so complicated? Rory made her way through the people and went to stand on top of the counter, looking a firm leader.

"People, please," Rory said. "We're having the party indoors."

"But outdoors makes a statement, honey," said Miss Patty.

"I'm allergic to most things found outdoors," said Kirk meekly.

Rory sighed as the arguing continued then climbed down from the counter and headed outside. What kind of mother, or almost mother, would she be if she couldn't even plan Rosa's birthday party properly? Then Lorelai wasn't there to help regulate the people with her amusing comments, as she and Luke were keeping Rosa busy that day.

"You're wearing that deep in thought look of yours," a familiar voice said suddenly. "What's wrong?"

Rory looked up to see… "Dean!"

"Hey," Dean smiled at her.

Rory went up to him and started to hug him, but stopped herself and just touched him lightly. "What are you doing in town?"

"I'm staying with my mom for summer," the young man replied. "God, I haven't seen you in two years. How have you been?"

"I'm good," Rory replied with a shrug.

"I've been in town for like two days and I already heard that you and Jess were back together and you're acting as mother to his wedlock born child."

"What? No. It's a whole big story there, but, yeah, we're back together," Rory confirmed before adding, "And happy. Couldn't be happier in fact."

"That's great," said Dean with a smile. "Anyway, I was just heading home. I'll see you later." He turned and started to walk away.

"Yeah, later," Rory said, mostly to herself.

"Rory." She turned to see Jess headed her way. He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Sorry I'm late." Jess examined her face for a moment, also noticing the deep in thought look. "You OK?"

"I'm fine," Rory replied quickly. She took his arm and began to lead him away. "Come on."

"OK," Jess shrugged, allowing himself to be tugged along.

A/N: Mad at me for not updating in a while? Well, be happy! Please review!


End file.
